1. Field of Invention
An improved top drive assembly for a telescoping derrick provides the telescoping derrick with two rectangular telescoping section each defining rear legs and front legs defining a longitudinal channel, each set of front legs further defining rails attached to inner facing surfaces upon which lateral guide tracks of the improved top drive assembly are led, each lateral guide tracks providing a set of parallel channel segments having a friction reducing inner lining and an upper and lower track wheel which travel upon the facing surface of each guide rail for smooth and secure travel up and down the derrick during drilling and completion operations.
2. Description of Prior Art
A preliminary review of prior art patents was conducted by the applicant which reveal prior art patents in a similar field or having similar use. However, the prior art inventions do not disclose the same or similar elements as the present improved derrick and associated apparatus, nor do they present the material components in a manner contemplated or anticipated in the prior art.
In U.S. Patent Application No. 2009/0272540 to Rodgers, a mobile hydraulic workover rig is disclosed, which includes a rig having a derrick elevated on a base structure comprising containers for equipment used in association with the drilling or workover activity, a work platform including pipe rack sections for storing pipe, with the derrick being open sided with a power cylinder at an upper end for lifting and lowering pipe section away from and into each well, and hydraulic drive cylinders for advancing the rig between wells without telescoping or pivoting the derrick into a travel position, all of the hydraulic components being operated from a central control panel on the work platform.
Telescoping derricks on workover rigs are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,461,831 to Mosley, U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,695 to Desai, U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,175 to Donnally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,590,720 to Reed, and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,776 to Bunce. More specifically, Bunce discloses an offshore rig with has extendable caissons with a topside platform, the caissons extending to the bottom of the sea floor, providing a stable working platform. Reed has a plurality of element which telescope one into another so that the derrick can be raised from a short collapsed position into an extended position by the use of four cables, one in each corner of the derrick. Donnally is a telescoping derrick that is light for easy transport and uses structure to enable the mast to be raised from a collapsed horizontal position to a vertical position by hydraulic cylinders, the mast in an retracted position and later the being telescopically raised to full height by a cable means. Mosley is relatively similar to Donnally and also the Rodgers assembly. A very established collapsible derrick tower, using a cable hoist, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,299,261 to Taylor.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,639 to Ice, a telescoping rig is disclosed having a safety line attached to the crown which is used to secure a worker within a harness while climbing up the derrick tower. This harness device includes a counterweight within a telescoping tube. This derrick, which is not indicated on a portable rig also appears to have two lower support fins although no function is noted for these lower fins.
Other patents indicate features in prior art which are hereby disclosed and improved in the present telescoping derrick and top drive assembly, including U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,457 to Back, which provides a drilling derrick or mast transported on a trailer of a vehicle, which is raised into a vertical position using a pivotal means and a hydraulic ram to elevate the derrick or mast from a horizontal transport position tot a vertical drilling position. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,592 to Reed, a method is disclosed which provides a jacking crane erecting four telescoping hydraulically powered legs used to erect a “two spaced parallel column drilling derrick.” This is built upon a mud sled platform which provides a secure stable platform upon which to build the drilling derrick.
A telescoping drilling rig is indicated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,175 to Donnally which involves a substructure pivotally connecting a lower mast section which is raised and lowered between a horizontal position and a vertical position by a power means (cable), FIG. 5, and an upper mast section being in sliding engagement with the lower mast section, FIGS. 6-7, and a guide assembly for connection between the upper and lower mast sections with foot for securing the upper mast section for telescoping movement within the guide assembly as indicated in FIGS. 2 and 4. Use of a top drive drilling component on a vertical drilling rig is demonstrated in several drilling rig patents, including U.S. Pat. No. 7,828,086 to Lesko, U.S. Pat. No. 7,290,621 to Orr, U.S. Pat. No. 6,913,096 to Nielsen, U.S. Pat. No. 6,412,576 to Meiners, U.S. Pat. No. 6,336,622 to Eilertsen U.S. Pat. No. 6,112,834 to Barrett and U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,291 to Futros, with these top drive mechanisms developed for practical use in the oil fields in the 1980's, even though conceived as early as the 1920's, to overcome the limitations of rotary table drilling systems. These top drive systems provided a means of drilling an entire stand of drill pipe, or multiple single strands of pipe connected together, where the rotary table drilling only provided for the drilling of a single pipe strand at one time. over time, these top drive assemblies have also provided the ability to deliver drilling mud and chemicals to the drilling stem. These top drive assemblies have had no only difficulty with handling the connection and disconnection of drill pipe, but the moving and handling of stands of drill pipe. Another problem with top drive assemblies is that they do not efficiently provide stability against great rotational force torques sometimes applied to them while being used with a hydraulic drilling system, the higher torque being used for deeper wills or for directional horizontal drilling. Thus the advance of the top drive apparatus is still ongoing, and advanced by the present top drive system employed in the present invention.
Thus, as seen in the prior art, Futros discloses a top drive connected to a chain which uses a pulley system to divert the pressure of lifting the top drive and applying drilling pressure to the base of a drilling derrick instead of the drilling pressure being forced against the top of the derrick. Eilertson indicated the use of a lifting device having rack segments which are moved up and down by using driving gear and shifting the load handles by the lifting tackle to the bottom of the derrick.
A double derrick drilling rig is disclosed in the Meiners patent which provides a top drive with two opposing guide trolleys on the ends of opposing counter-torque arms which are directed against some object on each of the two derrick towers, and presumably some type of tract, since the guide trolleys appear to have some type of four wheeled rolling means on each guide trolley. More directly, a top drive integrating within a drilling rig is the subject of the Orr patent, wherein the derrick is provided with a track system on the inner surfaces of the derrick, which may be a telescoping derrick assembly, with the top drive having a plurality of pads engaging a pair of structural guide rails comprised of a pair of rectangular tubes which extend the length of the mast of the derrick assembly. The top drive is suspended from the crown by a wire being guided over pulleys to raise and lower the top drive along the length of the mast or derrick. The top drive is locked in position along the mast by lock pins during maintenance or transport. The pads on the top drive are part of a disclosed vertical “guidance and torque reaction mechanism”.
Most recently, Lesko discloses a guide rail system for a telescoping mast on a drilling rig which disclose a rail system on the inner portion of the telescoping mast having parallel guide tracks of tubular steel welded to the derrick, with the lower and upper mast sections each having these guide tracks, FIG. 8. The top drive provides an upper and lower set of track wheels facing opposing outer directions from the top drive, each wheel defining a hub, an inner ridge, a middle ridge and an outer ridge, the ridges positioned on the outer margins of the guide tracks, FIG. 9. This three ridge track wheels allow for a transition between the guide tracks of the lower mast when transferring position to the upper mast.